The Love Bench
Love… it’s an easy enough concept for anyone to grasp, yet paradoxically, it doesn’t tend to be the universal way of life that one would expect it to be… given the ubiquitous nature of love.
If we have eyes to see it, love is everywhere. It's in the song of birds, or a hello to a stranger. Love is warm sunshine on our back, and a friendly pat on it too. Love is getting closer to the one in need, so security can grow in our togetherness. Love is also space for them, room to feel, a chance to breathe. Respect, acknowledgement, and care, for everything: this is all love.
Yet so often we don’t have eyes to see the love that’s right in front of us, because certain things want to stand in the way of it. Things that try to stifle love… like politics, divisiveness, fear, discrimination, and injustice… these things compete for our attention and dig into the parts of us that aren’t love. Sometimes they win.
Though love is everywhere, these things live here too, so it’s important to consciously look for and feel love whenever we can. Energy flows where attention goes, so the Love Bench reminds us to stay focused in the direction of friendship, love, and caring.
It’s a feelgood touchstone – like so many of the benches and tiles in the park – except this one is a gift to the world. Where most other custom pieces in the Tile Park hold a special significance to the people who sponsored it, this one holds a special significance for us all. This is our touchstone, mine and yours.
Artist Mary Carol Rudin conceived the Love Bench during a particularly tumultuous and stressful time in 2018. The world was up in arms about many things, and she realized she longed for more expressions of love in the world. So the Love Bench is a vision of hope, a vote in favor of love.
It features the symbols we often associate with love, friendship, and unity, like a dove, a great big heart, an olive branch, and beautiful red roses. Below the bench seat is a pair of hands with the world between them, like an embrace.
The name tiles depict Mary Carol and her partner Vickie Lynn, though the bench is not just about romantic love. It’s about peace and kindness, friendship, caring for the environment, for each other, and romantic love too. The Love Bench is all love, all ways.
Though she designed it, you’ll be surprised to learn that Mary Carol has yet to see her own bench in person! Life has kept her away for the last few years but she’s excited to remedy that in the 2022-23 season. We’re looking forward to seeing her, and sharing the love (bench) with her.
This is easily one of the favorites at the park, which is perfect if you think about it, because the bench is our touchstone, our gift. Every time someone sits there and thinks of love, love grows. They take it with them out into the world, and that’s how the Love Bench works its magic: poco a poco, one heart at a time.
You can feel the love on the Love Bench near the gazebo at the center of the park.
